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The ways in which U.S. scholars and researchers of higher education conceptualize "race" shapes inquiry and ultimately knowledge creation and dissemination of scholarship, research, and policy contributing to the U.S. Latinx education pipeline.This conceptual study addresses the symbolic violence of what "passing for White" as Latinxs mean for studies of colleges and universities, and how centering our African and Black identities calls these manifestations into question. The focus of this study is to juxtapose themes in the U.S. higher education literature, to the experiences of AfroLatina scholars demonstrating shortcomings of "passin' for Latinx," which they construct as the under-theorization of the role U.S. anti-Blackness and Blackness plays in the construct of U.S. Latinidad. Therefore, a conceptual framework of Black-imiento is provided that can help expand the Latinx construct, future research, policy, and practice. Disciplines DisciplinesEducation 130 ________________________ 1 The term Latinx is used instead of Latino, Latina/o, and Latin@ within the literature. We employ Latinx in solidarity with making visible the spectrum of gender identities within this U.S. ethnic community.

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The role that symbols play in facilitating or hindering institutional transformation efforts on campuses is underexplored. Through this embedded, multiple case study, we examine interview data from 52 participants at four private postsecondary institutions to investigate how power dynamics influence symbols to advance or hinder these institutional agents' work in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The findings highlight the contested nature of symbols and symbolic acts, which include (a) a disproportionate emphasis on positional leaders as symbols of opportunity, (b) complicating the idea of diversity centers as symbols of commitment, and (c) struggles to engage frameworks and strategic plans as symbols of shared vision and ownership. Specifically, we attend to how power dynamics may play a role in who/what becomes a symbol, and how symbols are interpreted in contradictory ways by different campus constituents, which have implications for how institutions can unite campus efforts toward DEI. Together, these findings present the tensions that universities must contend with as they use symbols to encourage a collective effort to advance DEI.